In line with their mission of promoting best practice and effective corporate governance in businesses based in Mauritius, the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD) partnered with BDO to hold a workshop on Corporate Finance, yesterday, September 18, 2014 at the Hennessy Park Hotel, Ebene.

The purpose of this training, a first for Mauritius, was to help participants not only maximize shareholder value for their companies, but also to aid in their management decisions by applying the best practice of good corporate governance.

“Through this training, we wanted to help participants widen their general knowledge of corporate finance, which is a vast and complex subject to negotiate, but is nevertheless critical for a company to have a working knowledge of,” said Jane Valls, CEO, MIoD.

Acting as facilitator during the workshop, Bruneau Woomed, Managing Director at Financial Sense Ltd, gave participants the opportunity to brainstorm on several topics, notably, the advantages and disadvantages of being listed on the stock exchange, the different methods to evaluate private equity, the cost of capital and the regulations governing a company’s dividend policy.

They also dwelt on the intricacies of investment capital as well as the essential need for corporate finance across different categories of company projects.

Furthermore, during the day, the participants were given the opportunity to exchange their points of view on their respective companies’ evaluation.

“My objective was to simplify terms of corporate finance, which are often regarded as unduly complex, such as the time value of money,” said Bruneau Woomed.

The day ended with a speech by Afsar Ebrahim, Deputy Group Managing Partner of BDO Mauritius, who concluded by applying the various techniques learned in various case studies.

“This workshop has been held to give an overview of the methods of optimization for the capital structure of a company, as the management of balance sheets occupies an important place in the creation of shareholder value,” said Afsar Ebrahim.

“However, it is important for the shareholder to be aware that this value can change, as it depends on factors such as the passage of time, the risk of uncertainty, or further still, the distribution policy of dividend,” he said.

Finally, he concluded by saying that big data, which allows key decision makers to gather vital information based on consumers habits and trends to define optimal strategy, is influencing the forecast of corporate finance experts for more accurate reports on topics as varied as sales and cash flow, among others.

– By Marie-Lorry Coret and Cecilia Samoisi

Image (Cecilia Samoisi): Afsar Ebrahim, Deputy Group Managing Partner of BDO, Mauritius, said that the workshop was held to give an overview of the methods of optimization for the capital structure of a company, as balance sheet management occupies an important place in the creation of shareholder value.